The Movie "Pain & Gain" Released on Friday Falls Flat

The April 26 release of "Pain & Gain" is more pain then gain with few laughs and spotty drama which nets a one and half star rating.

This movie try’s miserably to be both serious and funny. With the exception of Dwayne Johnson (The Rock), the rest of the characters are OK at best. The writers and directors of "Pain & Gain" managed to take an all-star cast and harbor them behind black clouds on a moonless night.

"Pain & Gain" is based on a true story of three idiots in the mid-90s whose quest for money consumes their morality and common sense which cascades the American dream of big money into a deadly sea of greed.

Daniel Lugo (Mark Wahlberg) is the serious Moe of an abysmal operation to extort money from Victor Kershaw (Tony Shalhoub) with the aide of his friend and co-worker Adrian Doorbal (Anthony Mackie) and ex con Paul Doyle (Johnson).

Lugo (Wahlberg) is a personal trainer at Sun Gym in Miami and devises a plan to kidnap one of his clients, the very rich and hard to like Kershaw (Shalhoub), so he can claim Kershaw's entire fortune. Lugo's pal Doorbal (Mackie) reluctantly aides his friend along with Doyle, the ex con in the kidnapping of Kershaw.

The trio's first attempt to kidnap Kershaw is a failed attempt at comedy and follow through. Lugo, Doorbal and Doyle finally manage to kidnap Kershaw and torture him for the sole goal of big money.

The trio eventually manages to acquire their riches through nefarious means. Successfully eluding the police and enjoying the excesses of money, material things, women and drugs, along comes Ed Du Bois (Ed Harris), a private investigator who sees what the Miami Police Department missed.  

Through no fault of his own, even the acclaimed actor Harris could not save this movie. The story is draggy; the comedy few and far between and there is no tension in the drama.  

The only laughs for me came from the superb acting by Johnson who portrayed Doyle as a sub-moronic and hilarious coke addict. Other than his acting, the comedy was drab and the intensity of murder and mayhem was muddled in the indecisiveness of the film makers’ lack of communication to make a comedy or drama. Had it not been for Johnson's character Doyle, "Pain and Gain" may have earned a minus star rating.

Mixing comedy with drama only works if the comedy is funny and the drama is riveting. "Pain & Gain" was too long for starters and only one of its many great actors was utilized properly.

The movies strong theme of the dangers of getting swallowed by greed is solid, but its foundation was on soggy sand in the path of a tidal wave.